WIP - ErosGanymede Stage 3 Picture

It's been a long time since I've painted something properly, and again this is hardly 'proper' for me. But it's developed into an idea, so I may as well go with the flow.

It began as a simple sketch to test the lovely Fabriano watercolour paper my father got me recently; I'd only handmade, very textured watercolour paper in my possession, & wanted some hot pressed paper to work on, as then I could draw with pen & ink without the pen nib tearing away at the surface. After an ink/watercolour wash & some appreciation of the rather stunning facial features of my reference pic (above), it's now turned into something of an illustration. There's something terribly beautiful about his face - idealised, almost - and it brought to mind Eros, the Greek god of love, or the story of Ganymede, a young Trojan man abducted by a lustful Zeus. His innocent air & youthful face is making me sway towards making this a depiction of Ganymede, a representation of paiderasteia (in Greek, a lovers relationship between a young man and an older male).